Skip to content

Bream, sunfish, shell crackers, perch and other species of pan-fish thrive on the nymphs of aquatic insects. The damselfly, dragonfly and other larger aquatic adult insects are present in the water ninety-nine percent of their life as a nymph. The stonefly nymphs are also plentiful In the colder waters of many streams. These larger nymphs are not the only nymphs eaten by panfish. They also eat mayfly, caddisfly, water boatman, and other smaller nymphs. In many cases nymphs represent the major source of food for smaller or panfish. The following wet flies or nymph imitations are great for all species of panfish as well as trout. If the surface action is lacking, try one of these. Fish them near the surface unweighted or weight your leader or tippet down a few inches above the fly and fish them at other depths from the bottom to the surface.